Insurgency: Yobe State To Partner With North East Development Commission On Agriculture, Education, Employment, Roads, Health Interventions For IDPs

Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State has enjoined the North East Development Commission (NEDC) to intervene on education, health, agriculture, employment and roads in the state to enable people affected by the Boko Haram insurgency to resettle and continue their normal lives.

Buni made this known when members of the NEDC led by the Commission’s Chairman, Major General Paul (Rtd) visited him Friday at Government House Damaturu.

He said: “We are delighted to partner with you and work with you as you roll out your intervention programmes. I have no doubt that people all across the North East are looking up to you and looking forward to hearing from you.

" Education, agriculture, healthcare, youth empowerment and road construction are some of the sectors that we want the Commission to partner with the state government to improve on for the people hit by the crisis.

“We need the support of the North East Development Commission to get our education right. We need you to support capacity building for our teachers and principals. We need you to rebuild our classrooms that have been destroyed by Boko Haram and provide our students with access to new learning facilities.

“We need to make rapid progress in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics so that our students can have the confidence of becoming tomorrow’s leaders in scientific breakthroughs.

“We know they have the talent to become coders and even inventors. We just need to show them that it is possible. And we would need your support to that,” Buni said.

He however noted that while 70 per cent of the population of Yobe state engages in agriculture, most farming activities remain largely subsistent, a situation, he added, that has been aggravated by poor access to modern farming tools, poor access to improved seeds and near zero access to credit facilities.

“It is therefore our hope that the North -East Development Commission will partner with us to accelerate agricultural mechanisation in the state and provide the support that our farmers so desperately need,” Buni added.